Honeycomb foundation.



O. M. TED.

YGO NDATION. T10 1'. 1120.20, i909.

' Patented Dec. 27,1910.

HONE APPLIGA OSCAR 1V1. HUSTED, 0F LACEY, ARKANSAS.

HONEYCOMB FOUNDATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2'7, 1910.

Application filed December 20, 1909. Serial No. 534,209.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR M. I'IUSTED,

a citizen of the United States, residing at.

of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the making of reinforced or strengthened artificial honeycomb foundation of the same form and outer appearance as the all-wax foundations now used.

In making all-wax artificial comb foundations sheets of wax, of proper thickness, are passed between die rolls, to give the wax sheets a favosed or honey combed surface, and the favosed sheets are then cut to a required size.

The temperature in a hive of bees softens the wax of such sheet, and the weight of the bees engaged in work upon it, added to its own weight, so stretch the sheet, and elongate the shape of the cells that honey combs so produced are entirely worthless for brood rearing, and not acceptable for storing of honey, and such comb foundation, except as used in narrow strips, as starters, is practically useless unless stayed and supported by embedding the wires of a cross wired frame into the wax body of the foundation.

The object of my invention is to provide a wax honey comb foundation in all respects of outer form and appearance the same as that now used; but so reinforced and strengthened as to have the tenacity and rigidity to maintain its perfect cell formation, without stretching, buckling or bulging from its true plane, while still being as readily accepted by the bees as the all-wax foundations now used; and which shall contain no article or material in its substance which, as a bee food, might incite the bees to destroy or injure it.

My invention consists further in the provision of a reinforced artificial honey comb designed especially for use as a brood nest and supers for extracting.

I illustrate my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan View of an artificial honeycomb foundation made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional View on line w00 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the foundation.

Referring to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates a fabric, preferably of cot-ton cloth, which is thoroughly saturated by being passed through a tank of wax B at the proper temperature to impregnate the same and cover both of its surfaces. Said fabric is afterward preferably passed through a sizing or gaging appliance to remove any superfluous wax therefrom and thence passed through an ordinary comb foundation mill to give the same the favosed or honey-comb formations shown, care being taken to leave a minimum wax in the bottoms of the cells and a maximum in the low cell wall formations, forming the thickened ribs C. Other materials than cloth, if preferred, may be used as a reinforcing and strengthening element in construction, the essential feature of the invention consisting of any kind of a reinforcing material with the ribbed portions or walls as set forth.

What I claim as my invention is:

A honey comb foundation having a permeable reinforcing fabric medium, saturated and sheeted with wax so that said reinforcing medium becomes an inseparable and integral part of the construction of the foundation and favosed.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

OSCAR M. HUSTED.

Witnesses:

R. L. HARDY, Porn HAYNES. 

